Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.

November 1913. West, Texas. "Some of the younger boys working in Brazos Valley Cotton Mills at West. One, Charlie Lott, was 13 years old according to Family Record. Another, Norman Vaughn, apparently 12 years old, was under legal age according to one of the boys there, Calvin Caughlin, who did not appear to be 15 years old himself. These and two girls that I proved to be under legal age were all working in this small mill. It was an exceptional case, but it is likely that as the children become tired of school later in the year, there will be many more at work." Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

May 1954. "High school football player Paul Delfeld, 17, of North Dallas, Texas, helping father at plumbing business. Other photos show Delfeld attending high school classes; practicing football with teammates; playing in game; working at ice cream parlor; attending various social functions with girlfriend Janelle Gibson and other teenagers." Medium format negative from photos taken for the Look magazine assignment "High School Hero." View full size.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.